Ishigaki: Sunset from the Oganzaki Lighthouse
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Sunset Over The East China Sea from Oganzaki, on Ishigaki Island, in the far southern reaches of Japan -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/4000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Sunset Over The East China Sea
from Oganzaki, on Ishigaki Island, in the far southern reaches of Japan

After arriving to Ishigaki Island on the first day of our short Golden-Week vacation, we puttered around the island a bit, and ended up at Oganzaki (御神崎) in the north-west corner of the island. In checking photos on Google Earth prior to the visit, it seemed like it should provide a nice sunset, and when I mentioned it to Fumie, she said she'd had it on her list as well, from reading the guidebooks.

It's not much more than a small lighthouse and a small park...

Lighthouse and a small speck of a moon -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/2000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Lighthouse
and a small speck of a moon
Small Park Area as seen from the Lighthouse -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/3200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Small Park Area
as seen from the Lighthouse
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Beyond the park area the adventurous can take paths out onto the rocks and boulders of old coral...

That's a Lotsa' Water -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 60 mm — 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
That's a Lotsa' Water
I'm a Sucker for These Kind of Pensive Shots -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 110 mm — 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
I'm a Sucker for These Kind of Pensive Shots

Of course, when faced with the unimaginable grandeur of the ocean amidst the stunning beauty of nature, Anthony does....

Dinosaur Play A kind of play described here and here -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 130 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Dinosaur Play
A kind of play described here and here

He eventually made his way down to where he could see over a cliff, down into a rocky intertidal zone at low tide...

Lotsa' Rock and lots of wind -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 95 mm — 1/640 sec, f/10, ISO 2800 — map & image datanearby photos
Lotsa' Rock
and lots of wind
View Back Up Toward the Lighthouse the path is up toward the right, out of frame, with the little park about halfway there -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 280 — map & image datanearby photos
View Back Up Toward the Lighthouse
the path is up toward the right, out of frame, with the little park about halfway there

We made our way back to where Fumie was sitting. The small crowd that had gathered for the sunset was all congregating at the little park, which seemed the natural place to see the sunset from, but we thought it'd be more interesting to sit back and include the people in our foreground, so we picked a spot on the sloping grass near the steps up to the lighthouse...

Our Vantage Point for the sunset -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/640 sec, f/5, ISO 220 — map & image datanearby photos
Our Vantage Point
for the sunset

But the sun wasn't setting quite yet, so Anthony was off to play more...

Flying in the Wind -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 110 mm — 1/640 sec, f/10, ISO 1400 — map & image datanearby photos
Flying in the Wind
“No Entry” Why is there a path leading here? -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 78 mm — 1/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 3200 — map & image datanearby photos
“No Entry”
Why is there a path leading here?
Heading Back to Mommy as the sun turns golden -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 170 mm — 1/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image datanearby photos
Heading Back to Mommy
as the sun turns golden
Back at our Vantage Spot 20 minutes before sunset -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/8000 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Back at our Vantage Spot
20 minutes before sunset

The sunset was pretty lackluster, but a zoom lens can make the most of what color is there. The lead photo in this post focused on the people in silhouette. Here's a similar shot that focuses on the water...

Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — 1/3200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Anticlimactic Finish -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — 1/640 sec, f/3.5, ISO 560 — map & image datanearby photos
Anticlimactic Finish

The sun eventually dipped into some clouds on the horizon, and the crowd quickly left. As regular readers of my blog know, I've spent some time hunting down a nice sunset in Kyoto (you'll find some of the better results on this page), so even though the weather today had given us a fairly bland sunset, I knew that you could still get some fireworks of color long after.

Indeed, 10 minutes later the sun had dipped far enough down to light the foreground clouds from below, with a deeply rich red that made the clouds seem on fire...

Final Sparks -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/400 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2200 — map & image datanearby photos
Final Sparks

Heading to the car, I turned to snap a picture of the lighthouse, now getting an early start on the evening's chores...

Lonely Lighthouse Oganzaki, Ishigaki City, Okinawa Japan -- Oganzaki Lighthouse -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 170 mm — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2800 — map & image datanearby photos
Lonely Lighthouse
Oganzaki, Ishigaki City, Okinawa Japan

Continued here...


All 7 comments so far, oldest first...

Hi Jeffrey. I am Paul Barr’s cousin in California. Paul told me about your wonderful blog and that he had the opportunity to meet you during his recent trip to Japan. I just want to let you know how much I enjoy your photography and written observations about Japan. Very touching and poignant.

All the best to you and yours!

Norm Nason

— comment by Norm Nason on May 10th, 2009 at 8:42am JST (14 years, 10 months ago) comment permalink

Re: focus on people vs focus on water – I liked the first shot much better.

— comment by Marcina, USA on May 10th, 2009 at 9:44am JST (14 years, 10 months ago) comment permalink

It is so cute that Anthony stills carry his Curious George everywhere!

Great pictures!

Griselda, Arlington, TX

— comment by Griselda on May 11th, 2009 at 1:07pm JST (14 years, 10 months ago) comment permalink

The “Small Park Area” looks almost surreal (make it /slightly/ on the evil side of HDR, somebody will wet their pants, not myself of course). Light is just lovely in “Heading Back to Mommy”, not to mention the image itself; perhaps crop out the blurry rock near bottom-left.

I agree with Marcina about the silhouette shots.

— comment by parv on May 13th, 2009 at 4:23pm JST (14 years, 10 months ago) comment permalink

the lighthouse: felt as if I’m in a spacecraft that’s hovering in space rather than I’m looking up toward the sky 😉

— comment by aya on May 15th, 2009 at 1:41pm JST (14 years, 10 months ago) comment permalink

Excellent shot Jeff.

— comment by Prabhakar on June 19th, 2009 at 12:49am JST (14 years, 9 months ago) comment permalink

Hi Jeffrey,
I’m writing to you from the Philippines. Your pictures of Ishigaki are so beautiful, serene , it gave me a feeling of so much happiness and peace.
Thank you very much.

Jackson T

— comment by Jackson T on December 3rd, 2010 at 9:34am JST (13 years, 4 months ago) comment permalink
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